


An Excerpt on the Difficulties of Arrakis

by Merfilly



Category: Dune Series - Frank Herbert
Genre: Diary/Journal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-19
Updated: 2010-08-19
Packaged: 2017-10-11 04:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Irulan was always writing</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Excerpt on the Difficulties of Arrakis

From the writings of Princess Irulan, during the reign of Shaddam Corrino IV:

_The rigors of Arrakis were not to be met handily with any form of technology, even those allowed by the Orange Catholic Bible. For sometime now, my father the Emperor has had to be placated that the storms of the atmosphere are too prohibitive to the placement of satellite observers. _

Personal shields are a death sentence there, for they call the mighty worms, those creatures that are the dominant lifeform on Arrakis. Indeed, even the spice mining equipment, the ornithopters, the carriers...all of them seem to draw the beasts, to the wreck and ruin of many an expedition.

However, it is not just the worms and their enmity toward all things technological, a condition which I hope father's planetologist discerns a reason for. In addition to the massive predators wreaking their havoc upon the tools of the trade, which is centered upon melange, there is a much smaller culprit for why the vast dunes of Arrakis cannot be tamed by technology alone.

No, the ever-present culprit for why nearly all machinery taken to Arrakis is bedeviled by mechanical failure has to do with the fine silicates that make up the very dunes themselves. Neither the famed Richese nor the Ixians have managed to fully sandproof any of the tools required for melange production, leading to ever growing coffers for them as they send technicians or replacements.

Father, it may be noted, is convinced this is purposeful on their part, and is looking to other sources for trying to overcome the difficulties presented by Arrakeen nature.


End file.
